Board Observers Weekly - April 1st, 2014. The Search For The Next Platform. I found this part of Mark Zuckerberg’s post on the Oculus acquisition most revealing: We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we’re in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences. Facebook was a bit slow to get aboard the mobile train.
Unlike Apple and Google, they do not have a mobile OS. And they were slow to evolve the core Facebook experience from web to mobile. But once they got religion about it, they moved very quickly to do that and now have an excellent mobile experience on both iOS and Android. And with Instagram and WhatsApp, they have three of the top ten third party mobile apps globally (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram). So they have gotten to a good place on mobile (and that’s what the $19bn WhatsApp buy was all about). And now Zuck and his team are looking up and saying “what’s next?”. But the roadmap has been clear for the past seven years (maybe longer). Super Normal — Startup Notes.
One of My Most Frequent Pieces of Advice: Be Politely Persistent. One of the hardest things for most entrepreneurs to know is how hard to push in situations where people tell you “no.” But then again most entrepreneurs fail. There is that rare breed that doesn’t accept “no” for an answer. It is impossible advice to give because there is such a fine line between being persistent and being annoying and it’s something you probably can’t teach. I often describe “chutzpah” as being able to skate right up to the line of acceptability without crossing over it.
And being persistent I believe is the most important attribute for success in an entrepreneur (assuming of course that you have all the other requisite skills). Years ago I started using the term “politely persistent” to remind people that you still need to be likable even if you have gumption. I’d say less than 20% of of entrepreneurs fit into that bucket.
Of course at one end of the bucket are entrepreneurs who are persistent but just aren’t polite. But my post isn’t for the haters. 1. But most of all. Twitter Buys France’s Mesagraph And UK’s SecondSync To Ramp Up Social TV Efforts In Europe. Twitter is adding more global firepower to its ambitions to cosy up to broadcasters and TV advertisers: it is buying France’s Mesagraph, and it is also acquiring the UK’s SecondSync (a key partner of Facebook’s). It is also expanding its relationship with Kantar, the market analytics firm owned by WPP who was also an investor in SecondSync, as part of its string of announcements today to further its global reach with its social TV strategy. Mesagraph works with broadcasters in France such as Canal+, France Télévisions, M6, TF1. SecondSync, meanwhile, works primarily in the UK broadcasting industry, where “through our social analytics products, we’ve enabled clients in the broadcast and advertising industries to realise the value of conversations on Twitter about television,” it notes in its announcement.
With both Mesagraph and SecondSync, Twitter is buying infrastructure: instead of building out more relationships in Europe, these two startups have them in place already. Everything I need to know about startups, I learned from a crime boss. The door opened and into the room walked the most dangerous person I’ve ever met. He reached towards his belt and slowly pulled out his .45 caliber handgun, raised it and paused to evaluate my expression. “No disrespect, but it’s been pressing into my hip all day.” He placed the gun on the coffee table, relaxed into the leather sofa and let his guard down for the first time in a very long while.
This person, let’s call him Kobayashi (I’m a Usual Suspects fan), is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He was a well-educated entrepreneur who ran a profitable business that employed dozens of people. But Kobayashi ran an unusual business. Everything I need to know about startups, I learned from Kobayashi. Don’t sell rocks when you can sell mountains Kobayashi didn’t work with small packages. As founders and early stage employees, we go to great lengths to mitigate risk. Building a profitable small-market company is difficult and carries a high risk of failure. Kobayashi wouldn’t. Www.boardobservers.com/downloads/Are-Internet-Stocks-Overvalued-April-1999.pdf.